IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i3p1485-d490693.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing Suitability of Human Settlements in High-Altitude Area Using a Comprehensive Index Method: A Case Study of Tibet, China

Author

Listed:
  • Yanpeng Ding

    (State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology and Key Laboratory of Environmental Nanotechnology and Health Effects, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Bin Shi

    (State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology and Key Laboratory of Environmental Nanotechnology and Health Effects, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Guijin Su

    (State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology and Key Laboratory of Environmental Nanotechnology and Health Effects, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Qianqian Li

    (State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology and Key Laboratory of Environmental Nanotechnology and Health Effects, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Jing Meng

    (State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology and Key Laboratory of Environmental Nanotechnology and Health Effects, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Yongjian Jiang

    (State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology and Key Laboratory of Environmental Nanotechnology and Health Effects, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China)

  • Yi Qin

    (State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology and Key Laboratory of Environmental Nanotechnology and Health Effects, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China)

  • Lingwen Dai

    (State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology and Key Laboratory of Environmental Nanotechnology and Health Effects, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China)

  • Shuai Song

    (State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology and Key Laboratory of Environmental Nanotechnology and Health Effects, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

Abstract

With the steady advancement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), how to build a sustainable environment for human settlements has become a hot topic of research for scholars from various countries. Rational space utilization and resource allocation are the keys to enhancing human well-being and achieving sustainable human settlements. A comprehensive human settlement environment evaluation system, which includes 14 indicators from the natural environment, infrastructure, and public services, was established in this study. The results showed that the habitat suitability area only accounted for 1.61% (2.05% after removing the nature reserve) and all centered on cities and radiated to the surrounding areas. A belt-like suitability distribution pattern of “Yi Jiang Liang He” (i.e., Brahmaputra, Lhasa, and Nianchu Rivers) is formed, and a point-like suitability distribution pattern of the Chamdo Karub District, Nagqu Seni District, and Ngari Shiquanhe Town are formed. The results of the driving factor analysis indicate that the level of public health development in infrastructure and various indicators in public services are the main factors influencing human settlement. There is not much difference in the natural environment in the populated regions, so the suitability of the natural environment is not a significant driving factor. In addition, the reliability of the assessment results was verified by a questionnaire survey of residents in the three regions, and the subjective satisfaction of the residents agreed with the ranking results of the objective evaluation. The evaluation results of this study provide theoretical and directional guidance for the improvement of human settlements on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. It will be a useful tool for evaluating human settlements in the region and has a reference significance for the formulation of macro-policy in high-altitude regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Yanpeng Ding & Bin Shi & Guijin Su & Qianqian Li & Jing Meng & Yongjian Jiang & Yi Qin & Lingwen Dai & Shuai Song, 2021. "Assessing Suitability of Human Settlements in High-Altitude Area Using a Comprehensive Index Method: A Case Study of Tibet, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-21, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1485-:d:490693
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1485/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1485/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shenzhen Tian & Xueming Li & Hang Li & Yingjia Zhang & Tongliga Bao, 2016. "Initial Evaluation of Provincial-Level Environmental Risks from the Perspective of Human Settlements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Yangli Zhang & Qiang Fan, 2020. "The Application of the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process in the Assessment and Improvement of the Human Settlement Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.
    3. Wei Tang & Tiancai Zhou & Jian Sun & Yurui Li & Weipeng Li, 2017. "Accelerated Urban Expansion in Lhasa City and the Implications for Sustainable Development in a Plateau City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-19, August.
    4. Tao Zhang & Beiyang Ding & Qinian Hu & Yuyu Liu & Dian Zhou & Weijun Gao & Hiroatsu Fukuda, 2020. "Research on Regional System Planning Method of Rural Habitat in Gully Regions of the Loess Plateau, under the Background of Rural Vitalization Strategy in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-23, April.
    5. Hai-fan Wang & Shang-chia Chiou, 2019. "Study on the Sustainable Development of Human Settlement Space Environment in Traditional Villages," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-22, August.
    6. Wenfeng Chi & Jing Jia & Tao Pan & Liang Jin & Xiulian Bai, 2020. "Multi-Scale Analysis of Green Space for Human Settlement Sustainability in Urban Areas of the Inner Mongolia Plateau, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-17, August.
    7. Samiul Hasan & Xiaoming Wang & Yong Bing Khoo & Greg Foliente, 2017. "Accessibility and socio-economic development of human settlements," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(6), pages 1-16, June.
    8. Wanping Yang & Jinkai Zhao & Kai Zhao, 2018. "Analysis of Regional Difference and Spatial Influencing Factors of Human Settlement Ecological Environment in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    9. Shenzhen Tian & Xueming Li & Jun Yang & Chunhua Zhang & Yun Zhang, 2014. "Initial Study on Triaxiality of Human Settlements—In the Case of 10 Districts (Counties) of Dalian," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(10), pages 1-16, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wenjun Li & Peng Li & Zhiming Feng & Chiwei Xiao, 2022. "GIS-Based Modeling of Human Settlement Suitability for the Belt and Road Regions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Dingwei Niu & Lucang Wang & Fuwei Qiao & Wei Li, 2022. "Analysis of Landscape Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Residential Areas on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: A Case Study of Tibet, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-20, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tiancheng Xie & Xinyan Liu & Pingjun Nie, 2022. "Study on Spatial–Temporal Patterns and Factors Influencing Human Settlement Quality in Beijing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-23, March.
    2. Wenbo Yu & Jun Yang & Feng Wu & Baojie He & Bing Xue & Shaohua Wang & Huisheng Yu & Xiangming Xiao & Jianhong (Cecilia) Xia, 2023. "Realistic characteristics and driving mechanisms of pseudo-human settlements in Chinese cities," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Jianwei Qi & Yayan Lu & Fang Han & Xuankai Ma & Zhaoping Yang, 2022. "Spatial Distribution Characteristics of the Rural Tourism Villages in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Its Influencing Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-21, July.
    4. Yali Zhong & Shuqing Chen & Haihua Mo & Weiwen Wang & Pengfei Yu & Xuemei Wang & Nima Chuduo & Bian Ba, 2022. "Contribution of urban expansion to surface warming in high-altitude cities of the Tibetan Plateau," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 1-22, November.
    5. Jun Zhang & Runni Zhang & Qilun Li & Xue Zhang & Xiong He, 2023. "Spatial Sifferentiation and Differentiated Development Paths of Traditional Villages in Yunnan Province," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, August.
    6. Katarzyna Przybyła & Alina Kulczyk-Dynowska, 2018. "Transformations and the Level of Tourist Function Development in Polish Voivodeship Capital Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-16, June.
    7. Chunshan Zhou & Dahao Zhang & Xiong He, 2021. "Transportation Accessibility Evaluation of Educational Institutions Conducting Field Environmental Education Activities in Ecological Protection Areas: A Case Study of Zhuhai City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    8. Junnan Xiong & Chongchong Ye & Weiming Cheng & Liang Guo & Chenghu Zhou & Xiaolei Zhang, 2019. "The Spatiotemporal Distribution of Flash Floods and Analysis of Partition Driving Forces in Yunnan Province," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, May.
    9. Wenjun Li & Peng Li & Zhiming Feng & Chiwei Xiao, 2022. "GIS-Based Modeling of Human Settlement Suitability for the Belt and Road Regions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-17, May.
    10. Hejie Wei & Yingying Gao & Qing Han & Ling Li & Xiaobin Dong & Mengxue Liu & Qingxiang Meng, 2022. "Quality Evaluation and Obstacle Identification of Human Settlements in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau Based on Multi-Source Data," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-21, September.
    11. Long Zhou & Guoqiang Shen & Yao Wu & Robert Brown & Tian Chen & Chenyu Wang, 2018. "Urban Form, Growth, and Accessibility in Space and Time: Anatomy of Land Use at the Parcel-Level in a Small to Medium-Sized American City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-24, December.
    12. Junnan Xiong & Wei Li & Hao Zhang & Weiming Cheng & Chongchong Ye & Yunliang Zhao, 2019. "Selected Environmental Assessment Model and Spatial Analysis Method to Explain Correlations in Environmental and Socio-Economic Data with Possible Application for Explaining the State of the Ecosystem," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-26, September.
    13. Yue Tang & Li Zhu & Xiaokang Wang, 2024. "Quantitative Analysis of the Evolution of Production–Living–Ecological Space in Traditional Villages: A Comparative Study of Rural Areas in Tibet," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-23, November.
    14. Weiqi Zhao & Dawei Xiao & Jing Li & Ziyu Xu & Jin Tao, 2024. "Research on Traditional Village Spatial Differentiation from the Perspective of Cultural Routes: A Case Study of 338 Villages in the Miao Frontier Corridor," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-32, June.
    15. Shicheng Li & Jian Gong & Qinghai Deng & Tianyu Zhou, 2018. "Impacts of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway on Accessibility and Economic Linkage of the Third Pole," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, October.
    16. Tieqiao Xiao & Lanlan Sheng & Shaojie Zhang & Licheng Zheng & Taotao Shui, 2023. "Thermal Comfort Improvement Strategies for Outdoor Spaces in Traditional Villages Based on ENVI-Met: Shimengao Village in Chizhou City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-19, July.
    17. Han Zou & Chen Chen & Wei Xiao & Lifu Shi, 2022. "Spatial-Temporal Evolution Relationship between Water Systems and Historical Settlement Sites Based on Quantitative Analysis: A Case Study of Hankou in Wuhan, China (1635–1949)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, November.
    18. Yangli Zhang & Qiang Fan, 2020. "The Application of the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process in the Assessment and Improvement of the Human Settlement Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.
    19. Sun, Xiaoqian & Wandelt, Sebastian & Zhang, Anming, 2021. "Comparative accessibility of Chinese airports and high-speed railway stations: A high-resolution, yet scalable framework based on open data," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    20. Fan Yang & Suwen Xiong & Jiangang Ou & Ziyu Zhao & Ting Lei, 2022. "Human Settlement Resilience Zoning and Optimizing Strategies for River-Network Cities under Flood Risk Management Objectives: Taking Yueyang City as an Example," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-22, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1485-:d:490693. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.